The present invention refers, according to a first aspect, to a releasable adhesive joint between two elements in which the two elements are fixed to each other by means of an adhesive bead. According to a second aspect, the present invention further relates to a method for establishing a releasable adhesive joint between two elements by providing an adhesive bead of particular design between the two elements to be fixed to each other. In a third and final aspect, the present invention further relates to an apparatus for releasing such an adhesive joint fixing two elements to each other.
In the following, in accordance with the common linguistic usage, the expression "adhesive joint" is used for a connection or fixture between two rigid elements by means of one or a plurality of beads of adhesive material provided between the two elements to be fixed to each other. Such adhesive joints are very well suited, for instance, for mounting vehicle windows in the body of the vehicle; examples of such adhesive joints are disclosed e.g. in the European Patent Publications EP-A1-0 312 496 and EP-A1-0 351 369. However, the usage and application of such adhesive joints is not limited at all for mounting windows in a vehicle body.
Even if this kind of glazing is very favourable and may be successfully used in mounting panes or windows in a vehicle body in a quick and efficient way, the problem exists that the pane or window must be removed from the vehicle body in the case of repair of a broken pane or in the case of disassembling the vehicle for recycling purposes. Up to now, no efficient and quickly to perform solution has been known for releasing the adhesive joints between two elements, e.g. between a vehicle pane and the vehicle body.